WILLIAM CEPEDA

Composer-Producer-Trombonist

BIOGRAPHY

Widely recognized and accomplished, William Cepeda has traveled the world performing with many great jazz and Latin artists. His music career began at age ten when William played percussion with his friends in his hometown, Loiza, Puerto Rico. As a teenager, he picked up the trombone, which soon became his instrument of choice and began playing professionally in Puerto Rico. Cepeda is a member of the world-renowned Cepeda family, which is credited with keeping Afro-Puerto Rican folkloric music alive.

As a composer, Cepeda has developed an innovative and unique style inspired by many influences and personal experiences. Cepeda's music reflects, among many other elements, traditional folkloric Afro-Puerto Rican rhythms and sounds. In 1997, he was selected by American Composers Orchestra as one of today's most important and influential Puerto Rican composers. His talent has been recognized with commissions, grants and awards from Meet the Composer, American Composers Forum, the Association of Hispanic Arts' Latino Arts Advancement Program and American Composers Orchestra. In 2002 Cepeda was honored with a Meet the Composer New Residencies Award to be a resident composer in Puerto Rico for three years. During this residency, Cepeda will work with three host institutions - the Conservatory of Music in Puerto Rico, Agua, Sol y Sereno (a theatre organization) and the Department of Education - to create new works that celebrate local culture and community. He is also responsible for teaching, organizing cultural events and performing multi-disciplinary contemporary pieces.

As a trombonist, Cepeda's performance history in jazz could not have begun any better. In 1989, when Dizzy Gillespie brought his United Nation Orchestra to Puerto Rico, William was hired to play trombone. The chance encounter turned into a lasting relationship, and shortly thereafter William was invited to tour Europe with Dizzy's group. Cepeda then moved to New York, and continued working with the band. Dizzy also asked the young trombonist to join his world tour with the great South African singer, Miriam Makeba. Paquito D'Rivera now carries on Dizzy's legacy leading the United Nation Orchestra and William remains a member of this outstanding Grammy award-winning group. Other jazz artists Cepeda has toured with include: Lester Bowie and his Brass Fantasy, David Murray, Bobby Watson, and Slide Hampton & The JazzMasters. Equally well-known in the Latin music scene, Cepeda has worked with legendary figures such as Oscar De Leon, the five-time Grammy award winner Eddie Palmieri, vocalist Celia Cruz and Tito Puente. When he is not touring, Cepeda is busy in the recording studio. As a recording artist, he appears on over 100 recordings as well as jingles and movie soundtracks.

As a producer, Cepeda has produced many CDs, including his own solo-productions on the Blue Jackel label: Grupo Afro Boricua ("Bombazo"), a recording of Afro-Puerto Rican percussion and voice; William Cepeda Afro-Rican Jazz ("My Roots and Beyond"), a jazz recording of original compositions and arrangements; and the 2002 Latin Grammy nominee William Cepeda Afro-Rican Jazz ("Branching Out") a blend of Caribbean, jazz and word music.

Cepeda's formal musical training includes two Bachelor of Arts degrees - one in jazz composition and arranging from Berklee College of Music in Boston and one in music education from Conservatory of Music in Puerto Rico. Cepeda was awarded a full scholarship to the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College in New York, where he received a Masters degree in Jazz performance, and studied composition and improvisation with Donald Byrd, Jimmy Heath and Slide Hampton. Cepeda has taught at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. He also conducts seminars and workshops as well as private lessons.